Sheet feeding apparatus



May 9, 1939- Y. A, F. DANIELssoN 2,157,849.

May 9, 1.939 Y. Ay F. DANn-:LssoN 2,157,849

SHEET FEEDING APPARATUS 'Filed 'July 26, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 PatentedMay 9, 19394 UNITED STATES I. SHEET FEEDING APPARATUS Yngve A. F.Danielsson, Goteborg, Sweden, assignor toAktiebolaget Westerlin & Co.,Goteborg. Sweden Application July 26, 1937,*Serial No, 155,771

3 Claims.

The principal object of this invention is a sheet feeding apparatus inconjunction with printing presses or similar machines which will enablesheets of various thicknesses to be fed with a high speed from a pile ofsheets on to the printing press or such other machine to which thefeeding device is applied. The modern printing presses usually operaterather quickly so that it is necessary that the sheets be fed into themwith a rather l high speed. To accomplish this, feeding' devices have.been designed in which the individual sheets lare fed forward in anoverlapped state viz. so that the next sheet is pushed ahead when thepreceding sheet has been moved forward only a short .1 distance, and asa consequence the sheets will be displaced relatively to each othersimilarly to the scales of a fish.

In other appliances for the same purpose the individual sheets are movedforward' in such a way that their speed increases during the motiorrfrom thepile on to the printing press. Notwithstanding the'possibiiityof accelerating the feeding of the sheets by this last mentioned methodexperiencahas shown that such an accelerated ,speed makes it difficultto arrest the sheets when arriving at-the Stoppers or registers at theentrance into the printing press especially as rerds very thinsheets`which are pushed against said AStoppers so violently that theirrather soft fore edges are liable to be bent br otherwise damaged. Thisinvention combinesthe good features of the known highly eiiicientfeeding methods but it avoids their inconveniences so .that it allowsthe sheet to be fed forward in an overlapped state with increased speedwithout hitting the Stoppers or registers ofJthe printing press soforcibly that their fore edges become injured. According to thisinvention the speed of the sheets when. pushed forward is variedperiodically in such a way that the speed fluotuates between a maximumand a minimum, and so that the sheets arrive against the stoppers in theprinting press with a moderate velocity only. This variable feedingspeed is due to the characteristic .device which will be described belowwith reference to the accompanying drawings. A

In the drawings- Figure l is a broken sectional side the new feedingdevice, Figure 2 is a brokenplan view of the same device. f Figure 3 isa partial cross sectional view of Figure' l on-theline I-I seen-indirection of the arrows, and Figures 4-6 are diagrammatical side viewsof gears which ixnpel the new art of feeding motion on to the sheetswhich are to be carried ahead to the printing press.

`elevation of Notwithstanding that the present feeding de- \vice will bedescribed below in combinationwith a printing press it mu'st beunderstood that this application has been chosen as an example only. asalready mentioned in the preamble, and everywhere a printing press ismentioned ln this speciiication it must not be taken as a limitation ofthe invention and its application.

All parts of the same character willbe referred to with the samedesignations.' Y

Referring to Figures 1 to 3, the intake end of 1 the printing press isdesignated with A, and is indicated by vthe roller I which receives thesheets 2 as they arrive at the press, and .conveys them further into thepress. The sheets 2 when arriving on the top of the roller I, arestopped by the known stopper or register 3 as clearly understood fromFigures land 2.

The sheets 2 are stocked in the known way in a piled supported by atable 5, and they are sep- I arated from said pile one by one b means ofsome known implements 6, which, f rinstance -operate by aid of vacuum,which implement catches the uppermost sheet 2a near the rear edgethereof. Having been separated from the pile li by means of theimplement E the sheet 2b gets advanced by some known feeding apparatusas indicated by 'l whereby the cooperation of separating implement 6 andfeeding apparatus 'I is -such that the sheets 2 advance overlapped at acertain extent as clearly shown in Figures 1 and 2. Such an overlappedfeeding of the sheets is known per se, and I do not claim the same.

When arriving to the left hand end of the feeding device the sheets 2come in cooperation with a series of endless conveyer belts 8 moving indirection ofthe arrow in Figure 1 from a roller 9, and carried byanother roller I0 journalled for instance in the printing press adjacentthe intake end roller I.

The driving conveyer roller 9, which is'journalled in the frame II ofthe feeding device, carries on its shaft I2 a toothed gear wheel I3which meshes with another toothed gear wheel I4 on a shaft I5 journalledinthe frame Ii.

The said gear wheel I4 meshes with another gear wheel I6 the shaft Il ofwhich is journalled in the frame II and carries a feeding roller I8between which and a press roller I9 the sheets 2 are fed forward. ShaftIl is surrounded by a hub 2l! of a link 2l the other end of which alsoforms a hub 22 surrounding a shaft 23 which is surrounded7 by anotherhub 25 of a substantially vertical link 26 the upper end of which formsa hub 2 1 around a shaft 28 which carries a gear wheel 29 that mesheswith a gear wheel 30 which in turn meshes with a further gear wheel 3|on a shaft 32. The three gear wheels 29, 30, 3| are kept in cooperationby aid of a substantially horizontal link 33 with a hub 34 about shaft28 and a hub 35 about shaft 32 which last mentioned shaft isjournalledin frame II.

means of which the crank pin 38 can be stationarily fixed at anyselected distance on each side from the centre of wheel 30 or in saidcentre proper. As shown in Figure 1 the slot 31 is somewhat longer onthe one side of the centre of the wheel 39 than it is on the oppositeside.A

Crank pin 38 is suspended at the lower end of a connecting rod 4|, theupper end of which-is pivoted onr a pin 42 in the frame I Isubstantially perpendicularly 'above the centre of wheel 30.

Shaft 23 carries a gear Wheel 43 which meshes with gear wheel I6 as wellas with gear Wheel 29. The diameter of conveyer roller 9 is smaller thanthe diameter of. roller I8 so much as is the thickness of the conveyerbelts 8 for the purpose to invest the very same speed to the operativesurface of said belts as is the periphery speed of roller I8notwithstanding the diameters of the gear wheels I3 and I 6 which bothmesh with the same gear wheel I4 are equal.

The Figures 4, 5 and 6 demonstrate diagrammatically how the gearsoperate when feeding sheets 2 into the printing press, and thisoperation will now be described in connectioniwith an explanation of theoperation of the whole apparatus. It must then be understood that thelinks, shafts and gear wheels shown in Figures 1 and 2 are present onthe opposite side of the apparatus also which is removed in Figure 2.

In Figure 1 as well as in all the diagrammatical Figures 4, 5, 6theadjustable crank pin 438 is supposed to be fixed in one of itsextreme positions viz. at the most rerrrote end of slot 31. From the'preceding description it is evident that only the shafts I5, I1 and 32are journalled in fixed bearings in frame I I while the shafts 23 and 25as well as the nonvisible shaft of gear wheel 30 are carried by themovable systems composed of the three links 2|, 26 and 33 as also of theconnecting rod 4I and the crank pin 38. The drivingvmotion is suppliedto the apparatus Lby aid of 'the shaft 32 and gear wheel 3| which of thelink 2| upon shaft I1 as pivot.

revolves the ger wheel 30, and this motion is transmitted to thegear-wheels 29, 43, I6, I4 and I3 so that the conveyer belts 8 are putin motion. O n account of the movable link systems 33, 26, 2| and thesuspension thereof in the connecting rod 4| on crank pin 38 the link 33will swing up and down with its left hand end around the shaft 32 as apivot, as well as the right hand end That is clearly shown by Figures 5and 6. As a result of these swinging motions the gear wheel rolls to andfrom along a portion of the periphery of gear wheellBI as also vdoes thegear wheel 43 in relation to gear wheel I6 simultaneously as theyrevolve around their respective centres, as the arrows in Figures 4 6indicate. It is clearly understood that the amplitude of the swings ofthe links 33, 2| stand in relation to the displacement of the crank pin38 in the slot 31 so that ln the position exemplified in Figures 4-6 theamplitude has its maximum and will be zero if the crank pin 38 isremoved exactly into the Acentre of wheel 30. When moved to the oppositeend of slot 31 a similar swinging motion will occur but with anotherratio.

- On account of said rolling motion between the wheels 30, 3| as alsobetween the wheels 43,

I6 the revolving of the rollers I8 and 9 will beA irregularnotwithstanding the regular revolving of the driving shaft 32, whichalso results in an irregular motion of the conveying belts 8. Thisirregularity is such that the sheets 2 when they pass along betweenrollers I8 and I9 and on the conveyer belts 8, are given a speed whichvaries "periodically between a maximum and a minimum, and so that theyarrive on to'the Stoppers orregisters 3 with a rather moderate speedwhich does not involve any'undue hit when the sheets getarrested therebynotwithstanding the mathematical medium of the speed during the wholemovement from the pile 4 until the entrance into the printing press willbe consider-A ably above that which is possible to attain by feedingapparatuses hitherto known.

The aforesaid reduced diameter of roller 9 in relation to roller I8makes the conveying of the sheets upon the conveyer belts 8 smooth andeven so that no wear on the sheets will take place when they aretransferred from the rollers I8, I9 on to the conveyer belts 8.

What I claim is- 1. A sheet feeding apparatus comprising a sheetseparator'and a main feeding device, a feeding roller and conveyer beltscombined so as to produce an overlapping motion to the sheets fedthereto at regular intervals, means for giving an irregular feedingspeed to-the sheets and comprising pivotal links, a train of circulargear wheels on the links, the gear at the free end of the links gearedto the feed roller and conveyer belts, a connecting rod pivoted to afixed pivot at one end and having a crank pin on the oppo-4 site endengaging in a longitudinal slot provided in one of said wheels causingthe links to oscillate, resulting in a periodical variation of the speedof the sheets, whereby said main feeding device passes a sheet over saidfeeding roller to the conveyer belts.

2. A sheet feeding apparatus comprising a sheet separator, a mainfeeding device, speed reducing means consisting of a feeding roller andconveyer belts combined so as to produce an overlapping motion to ythesheets fed thereto at regular intervals, pivotal links and gearsrevolubly mounted thereon, the gear at the free end of the links gearedto the feed roller and conveyer belts, a connecting rod pivoted to afixed point at one end and having va crank pin on the opposite end forcontrolling the relative position of said links, the crank pin beingradially adjustable on one of said gears so as to lmpel an irregularfeeding motion to the sheets, resulting in a periodical variation of thespeed of the sheets, whereby said main feeding device passes a sheetover said feeding roller onto said conveyer belts.

3."A sheet feeding apparatus comprising a shetseparator and a mainfeeding device, conveyer belts'and a driving roller therefor combined soas to produce an overlapping motion, to the sheets fed thereto atregular intervals, and means for imipelling an irregular feeding motionto the sheets so that the speed thereof changes periodically from thatgiven by the main feeding device, and a feeding roller for the sheetpositioned adjacent the conveyer belts and adapted to have the samesurface feed as the belts, the drivingroller for the belts having acorrespondingly smaller diameter than that of said feeding roller,whereby a sheet from said separator is passed from the main feedingdevice over the feeding roller onto said conveyer belts.

" YNGVE A. F. DANIEISSON.

